June Stash Report and Goals Update

 Wow, I can't believe it's the end of June already. It seemed like June was busy, but I don't have much to show for it. I was out of town for a couple days and then came down with a nasty virus, so I've been out of the sewing room a lot this month. 

No fabrics were purchased this month, and none of my own fabrics used, so no change to my stash report. The only complete finish I had used all club fabric for the front and back.

Mostly this month I worked on assembling my Road Trip top. A few partial seams, but not as bad as I expected it would be. I actually have the top all sewn together. And then I discovered I switched the placement of a couple of blocks so I'll have to fix it. Here's what it looks like before fixing: 

I haven't figured out the fabric usage in Road Trip yet. I'll figure it out and count it when I get the top fixed. I have quite a lot of leftover blocks and components, probably enough for smaller throw size quilt. I'll figure out what to do with them and count all that fabric separately. I'm tired of looking at Road Trip now, though, so I may put dealing with the leftovers on hold for a while. 

Another thing I finished this month is my community service top from the May-June kit. I had time on the long arm yesterday so I was able to quilt it. I haven't blogged about it yet so it'll get its own post later, after it's bound and finished. Again, the fabrics used were all club fabrics, so none of mine to count for my stash report. 

I actually accomplished more in June than I originally thought. I have a retreat coming up in mid July, so my goals and priorities have to switch over to retreat project prep now. 

Goals Update: 

June Recap

1. Finish the Road Trip top. Yes, but... It's all sewn together but I've noticed a couple of changes I need to make, which will involve ripping out a couple of blocks and replacing them. 

2. Quilt and finish my Tropical Stacked Slabs charity quilt. DONE and donated. 

3. Plan for making kits for the July PCQ Community Service sew day. Work on finishing the May-June top. DONE; directed the kitting up of the July project and finished my May-June top.

4. Prep projects for retreat in July. Started, more work needed. 

5. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy. No

6. If time permits, prep a backing for something and book quilting time for early in July. Yes, got long arm time on June 29 and quilted my May-June community service top. 

Other: made six more Periwinkle blocks for Edna's hive project. 

July Goals: 

1. Prep projects for retreat.

2. Bind the May-June community service quilt (Woven Bricks pattern).

3. Make a couple Scrappy Celebration blocks in autumn colors for retreat hostess Shiela. 

4. Revise Road Trip top.

5. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy.

Hopefully I can publish more blog posts in July, too. 

Stacked Slabs

Although I haven't been blogging much lately, I've been working on PCQ community service projects behind the scenes. 

We revised our schedule this year. Last year we were a little too ambitious, - and productive! - and we had a new quilt project for each month's Community Service sew day. Our batting budget couldn't keep up. Some of us felt pressured to finish a charity quilt top each month. This year we're allocating two months for sewing a given pattern. 

Our March-April project was a new pattern for us, Stacked Slabs. After finishing the top in May, I had time booked on the long arm at the beginning of June and got it quilted, and now it has been finished and donated. It's twin bed size because that's what several of the agencies we support need. 

When we made up the Stacked Slabs kits, I chose from the overflowing Novelty fabric bins and pulled everything with an ocean/beach/tropical/water theme: dolphins and whales, surfers and surfboards, palm trees, mermaids... I had made my Sea Turtle toddler quilt then, so I added in the turtle print leftovers, too. Then I pulled from the blue, teal, and green fabric bins to round out the palette. 

This pattern is super easy, just 4-1/2" wide strips cut either 20-1/2" or 10-1/2" long, laid out in rows staggered like bricks. No blocks, no seams to match, and the fabrics do all the work. 

After I had pulled all the fabrics for the top, we received another very generous donation of fabrics which included this stunning African print and some watery prints in matching colors. With careful planning, I was able to piece together a large enough backing featuring the African print. This could almost be a two-sided quilt. 

If you would like a PDF of the Stacked Slabs pattern for any charitable purpose, leave a comment and be sure to type your email address in the body of your comment. When I get a chance to update my Charity Quilt Patterns tab above, I'll add this pattern to it. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Road Trip and Other Work in Progress

 Road Trip is at the point where I'm starting to puzzle it together. There are a few partial seams, but not too bad so far. I have the upper left corner assembled.

When not working on Road Trip, I've been thinking about my Black and Tan project. Here are a few test blocks. The pale one on the left doesn't cut it; too blah. 

Primary blocks have black corners. When they surround the alternate blocks they create a star, which will continue out into the border. I'm using triangle papers to mass produce those corner HSTs. I've revised the layout in EQ several times. If I'm careful with the value placement, I think the blocks will create an interesting secondary pattern. 

I need my design wall to work on the Black and Tan project and other quilts besides Road Trip, so I really need to focus and get Road Trip assembled so I can move on. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts